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Truman Scholar Dedicated to Promoting Global Health

Akshayaa Chittibabu in South Korea. Korean is one of five languages she speaks. The honors student, a double major in biological sciences and sociology, plans to pursue graduate degrees in both medicine and public policy. (Courtesy of Akshayaa Chittibabu)

Akshayaa Chittibabu, right, has traveled the world studying languages and advocating for global malaria and polio prevention. Here, she is pictured in rural Panama. (Courtesy of Akshayaa Chittibabu)

Akshayaa Chittibabu is, among other things, a STEM Scholar in UConn’s Honors Program, a 2016 Holster Scholar, a 2017 Newman Fellow, a UN Foundation Global Fellow, and a 2018 Truman Scholar. After she received the Truman, a highly selective national award that honors our next generation of public service leaders, Provost Craig Kennedy said, “She represents everything we at the University of Connecticut challenge our students to be.”

With a dual major in biological sciences and sociology, Chittibabu is planning to pursue both MD and public policy graduate degrees. But if things don’t work out for her on the science end of the scale, she could always take her bona fide artistic skills and become a poet or a painter. Better still, she could try being a stand-up comic, because this high-achieving scholar has a quick wit and a keen sense of timing when it comes to delivering a punchline. Yes – she is funny, too.